LukasVIE

Overview

Chicago O’Hare Terminal 5
SWISS Business Class LX 7 Chicago O’Hare to Zurich Kloten
SWISS Business Class LX 2802 Zurich Kloten to Genève Aéroport
Austrian Airlines Economy Class OS 572 Genève Aéroport to Vienna International Airport
Austrian Airlines Business Class OS 572 Vienna International Airport to Chicago O’Hare



For high-def picture, you can read the trip report on my blog

Introduction

While I am getting a PhD in Aviation Management, I admittedly do not travel as much as I would like to. My classwork and my research keeps me quite busy and it is usually somewhat difficult to just take off a week in the middle of the semester. My research focus is on sustainability aspects of aviation and as it so happens, ATAG – the Air Transport Action Group, which is an association of aviation industry organizations and companies – was hosting a Global Sustainable Aviation Summit in Geneva. After securing the necessary funds, I went ahead and got everything lined up travel-wise. Conferences are usually a great opportunity to make connections and meet people who are interested in similar aspects of aviation.

I booked a roundtrip ticket from Chicago to Geneva via Madrid prior to the latest British Airways Avios devaluation. My plans changed somewhat and I needed to postpone my return to the U.S. as I was adding a couple of days in Vienna after my stay in Geneva. I canceled the Iberia flight back to Chicago and was able to secure a seat on the Austrian nonstop flight from VIE to ORD.

Everything looked good until the day prior to departure. I knew that Iberia had a couple of A340-600 aircraft still flying with its old Business Class product, but my flight was scheduled to operate on the new configuration. I was even able to check-in and got a boarding pass. A couple of hours later on Saturday I noticed something odd when I checked my reservation – while my assigned seat stayed the same, the seat map suddenly changed – to Iberia’s old Business Class. While Iberia’s old Business Class product is fully flat it just not a competitive transatlantic product anymore, as it does not offer direct aisle access from most seats.



I quickly checked availability from other North American Iberia gateways but unfortunately nothing was available. While most airlines release award seats in the days leading up to departure if a reasonable number of seats is unsold, Iberia is not one of them – meaning that most flights showed J9 C9 I9 but yet no award seats. British Airways was out of the question with its $600 fuel surcharges and American Airlines also had no award seats available. Plan B was using my last Avianca Lifemiles and luckily both Lufthansa and SWISS flights were available. While the Lufthansa flight would have been operated by a 747-8 I decided to go with SWISS since I usually enjoy SWISS Business Class.

Chicago O’Hare

After dropping my car off at the Westin O’Hare parking lot, the hotel shuttle driver informed us that there is apparently only one stop – the shuttle center. I distinctly remember from parking there about a year ago that they used to drop you off at the Terminals but I guess that must have changed since then. I followed the signs to the airport train and off I went to Terminal 5, the International Terminal at Chicago O’Hare.



The SWISS check-in area was not very crowded today. I was also somewhat early so maybe that was the reason for the lack of people. There were some people already lining up for the Austrian Check-In next door which was pretty early considering the flight departs at 4 pm.



I am quite familiar with Terminal 5 and while I think that the airport authority made some significant improvements when it comes to the food options past security, the security set up is just a mess. I would estimate that 3 out of 4 times there are enormous lines at the only security checkpoint and today was no exception. You know it’s going to be a long wait when the line stretches all the way back into the Terminal.



They do have a fast track for Business and First Class passengers and it usually works quite well – I would estimate that it saved me from an additional 30-minute wait.



Since I usually fly out of Indianapolis I am used to courteous and friendly TSA agents which, unfortunately is not the case at O’Hare Terminal 5. The TSA agent at the full-body scanner went on a power trip on an older gentleman in front of me because he forgot a handkerchief in his pocket. The TSA agent was offended as the passenger “lied” to him when he told him he had nothing in his pockets.
Right after security, passengers have to walk through the duty-free shop. I think since about a year, Terminal 5 features some pretty decent food options and a central food area with a nice seating area. I have only ever eaten at WOW BAO and while the food was OK the service was not very good. For those of you that remember the previous set-up – this is a lot better. If I am not mistaken there used to be a McDonald’s pre-security but no other restaurants air side.









There are two Star Alliance lounges available in the Terminal. The SAS Lounge and the SWISS Lounge. While I do like the better food options at the SWISS Lounge, I prefer the SAS Lounge since it is a lot bigger and has amazing tarmac views. In August, SAS changed the departure time for their Chicago flight. While that flight used to leave in the afternoon it now departs later at night. I was afraid that they would also adjust the lounge hours and I was correct with that assumption.
While the sign outside indicated that the SAS Lounge would open at noon, I got there at half past noon and it was closed. I guess the SWISS Lounge it is.



They obviously still need to update the posted opening hours since the lounge should have been open according to the placard.



I walked back to the SWISS lounge in the main terminal area. It is apparently also used by Avianca and Austrian - presumably because the SAS Lounge is no longer available in the early afternoon.



Upon entering the lounge, I was greeted by the lounge dragon and a waiter – definitely not a dragon in this case as she was very pleasant and the waiter wanted to know whether I would care for a glass of champagne – I politely declined as I had work to do unfortunately but I thought it was a very nice gesture.
The lounge was actually very nice and surprisingly not very crowded.



The food spread was OK, not amazing but decent. They had a wines and spirits on offer and a decent coffee machine. I really liked the SWISS sign in the drink area - I think this is a great way to make it look a little bit more unique.







I settled down and started working away – since I was planning to have lunch on board I only got something to nibble on.



The views of the tarmac were decent, but not as good as from the SAS Lounge unfortunately.



As we got closer to the departure time, the lounge did get busier, but it was still manageable. If you are from the U.S., you will probably be very familiar with Five Guys. While not as good as In-N-Out, they have decent burgers and I would recognize the smell of a Five Guys burger from a mile away. I was pretty surprised when I smelled Five Guys food in the lounge – as it turns out the couple seated right next to me thought it would be a good idea to bring a Five Guys burger into the lounge.



I was kind of annoyed by the strong smell and it really felt unnecessary since first, they have OK food on offer in the lounge and second SWISS feeds you in all cabins. I would have just eaten the burger somewhere in the food court area – but I always try to be courteous of other people around me.
At about 1:45 pm I left the lounge to slowly ventured to the gate. SWISS used M10 for its early flight to Zurich and M10 has got to be the worst gate for plane spotting – there was no chance to get a decent shot of our aircraft. I tried it from both sides to no avail.
At a gate nearby an Air India flight to Delhi / Hyderabad was boarding and the B777-200 was sporting a Star Alliance special livery – the plane looked pretty sleek.



At gate M11, a Cathay Pacific flight from Hong Kong had just arrived, while the Air India flight was leaving the gate in the background.



As we got closer to our boarding time of 2:15 pm, more and more people arrived at the gate area – it was pretty crowded. I was a little bit worried that a gate agent would see my carry-on, which definitely was heavier than the 8 kg or 17 pounds permitted on SWISS, but no one seemed to notice.



After families traveling with small children and passengers with disabilities were called to board, it was time for First Class, Business Class and Star Alliance Gold passengers - I joined the queue which had already formed and got ready to get on to the A330-300 operating today's SWISS Flight 7 to Zurich Kloten.

Stay tuned for the next part about the SWISS on-board experience.

ueutyi

Great report, keep it coming.

LukasVIE

Sorry for the delay but here's the next part of my trip report
Read my trip report on my blog for a better reading experience (no click bait or ads)

Chicago O’Hare ORD – Zurich Kloten ZRH
SWISS International Air Lines 007
A330-300 / HB-JHN
2:45PM-6:20AM
September 27, 2015
Seat 5K

I was a little bit worried that SWISS would require me to gate-check my somewhat over-sized carry-on but I was able to get through without problems.



I entered the aircraft and initially the crew member welcoming me on-board wanted to send me down the aisle I knew that I had to turn left to get to the Stuebli; he must have looked at the boarding pass of my connecting flight, where I had seat 10A.

In both SWISS Business Class configurations, there are two rows of Business Class between First Class and the galley. This mini-cabin is called Stuebli and I was lucky enough to secure a seat in this area. I absolutely love being seated in this mini cabin. It feels less crowded and there is no danger of hearing any screaming babies from the first row of Economy Class.



The important thing to keep in mind in SWISS Business Class is that the single seats on the left side of the aircraft are "throne" seats meaning they have a table to the left and right of the seat, whereas the seats on the right side of the aircraft are directly next to the window or separated by a table. My seat 5K is directly at the window, even-numbered seats are somewhat more exposed to the aisle, having the table between the seat and the window.



After boarding I was offered a pre-departure beverage. The flight attendant had champagne, orange juice and water on offer. I went with the water and started to settle into my seat.

I really liked the old SWISS Business Class amenity kits – they used to have tin boxes with pictures of the various SWISS aircraft on flights to Switzerland and brown bags for all flights out of Switzerland. They replaced these amenity kits with some kind of multifunctional bag. I guess it is better than the kits offered by some other airlines but it definitely did not impress me. It is kind of similar to the concept used by American Airlines for its amenity kits.





The SWISS safety video is really quite boring and it has been around for at least four years more or less unchanged – they really got to step up their game and make it a little bit more interesting.



Since I had just gotten a new iPhone 6S on the Friday before my flight, I decided to try out the improved camera and I filmed our departure with the time-lapse function. I think it turned out pretty well:


I really love the fact that European airlines turn-off the seat belt after a maximum of 10 minutes in the air – today’s flight was no exception. As soon as we reached about 15,000 feet the seat-belt sign was turned off and the crew sprang into action and distributed a round of drinks and nuts to Business Class passengers.



The flight duration for today was estimated to be 8 hours and 5 minutes, which would put us in Zurich just on-time at 6:20 am.

The crew distributed the menu for today’s lunch still on the ground and it reads as follows:



To celebrate to culinary heritage of Switzerland, SWISS introduced the SWISS Taste of Switzerland concept in 2002. In a nutshell, SWISS features a number of signature dishes based on specialties in some of the SWISS Kantons (similar to states in the USA).





I decided to go with the Chaeschueche as my main course – I thought that it would be something unusual and I usually try to avoid getting the chicken or beef dish.

The salmon and potato timbale was delicious – the flight attendant also offered me a tomato soup, which was pretty good.





I have to say that I was a little bit underwhelmed by the presentation and taste of the main course – it was decent, but nothing to write home about.



The dessert on the other hand was delicious. I have to admit that I enjoy good dessert a lot and I don’t think that one should finish a meal without at least something sweet. The menu described the dessert as chocolate cake, I think that this was probably a mistake as it was a cream-based cake and not really a chocolate cake. It is also pretty nice that SWISS offers its First and Business Class passengers Nespresso coffee (United – take a hint).



First Class passengers can also get a hand-crafted cappuccino. On a side note, today’s flight went out with zero passengers in First Class, proving that most European airlines do not have any qualms with letting their premium cabins go out empty to protect the product integrity.

Last but not least, the Maître de Cabin went around with a box of Godiva chocolates – an espresso with a piece of chocolate – what a great way to finish any meal.



After the meal, I walked around a little bit and took some shots of the cabin. The flight was about 70% full in Business Class and probably around 60% in Economy Class.







I really like the Business Class bulkhead walls on SWISS aircraft - If you look closely, you will notice that the map is made out of little crosses and Zurich is colored in red, a nice little detail.



I could not really sleep unfortunately – that is probably due to the flight leaving at 2:45 pm local time – I just wasn’t tired unfortunately, so I turned to the in-flight entertainment system. SWISS’s on-board entertainment program was decent – I watched Insurgent (surprisingly good) and Pitch Perfect 2 (surprisingly underwhelming – you know a movie is bad when you have to fast-forward over half of the movie). They also have tons of music CDs and music channels to listen too.

As I was relaxing in my seat, one of the flight attendants suddenly came up to me and told me to look outside. Apparently, there was a lunar eclipse going on outside – it was a beautiful sight for sure and I could even see the eclipse progressing. Unfortunately, my camera wasn’t able to capture the spectacle going on outside.



I was probably the only Business Class passenger awake at that moment and the flight attendant asked me if I would like to have my breakfast now. We were about 1.5 hours out of Zurich so I said yes. While the SWISS Business Class breakfast certainly isn’t the best in the sky, it was decent. The smoothie was good and the fresh fruits I ordered were ripe – which can be a problem when you get melons. I am a fan of Greek yoghurt so I was glad that it was offered. The highlight was, again, the espresso – I am just a sucker for espressos and in my opinion, a bad coffee can completely ruin an otherwise decent breakfast.



Soon after breakfast, it was already time for landing and this nice and relaxing SWISS flight came to an end. We landed and taxied to concourse E where we disembarked. A great thing about arriving from Canada and the U.S. is that you are already pre-cleared meaning that you don’t have to go through transit security in the European Union.



I finally got to catch a ride on the “Heidi” train again – the people mover connecting concourse E with concourse A/B. It is called “Heidi” train as there are two videos played with a cow and a Heidi-like person dancing around, playing traditional SWISS music. I guess it promotes tourism and I have no further comment



After a quick 2-minute ride I arrived at the main terminal, where immigration (as it is usually the case in Europe) took 3 minutes and that was after getting stuck behind a couple of Non-EU nationals which always take somewhat longer to process.



As I had a pretty short layover of 70 minutes, I unfortunately did not have the chance to visit the SWISS Senator Lounge. I proceeded right to my gate where a small number of people where already waiting to board.



About 15 minutes after I had arrived, boarding was called for Business Class, Senator, HON Circle and Star Alliance Gold members and essentially half of the plane got up to board.

Zurich Kloten ZRH - Genève Aéroport GVA
SWISS International Air Lines 2802
A319-112/ HB-IPY
7:30PM-8:15AM
September 28, 2015
Seat 10A

I really don’t know how SWISS does it but on my flight, Business Class stretched all the way back to row 10 – yes – that is 40 Business Class passengers on a A319. And the flight was completely full in Economy as well. I selected a seat in the last row of the Business Class cabin – row 10 – which was also the Exit row so legroom was pretty generous.



Here's a time-lapse video of our take-off:


I really did not expect much from this flight, given that our flight time was only 35 minutes, but SWISS pulled of a full beverage service and gave out croissants – U.S. carriers take a note!



Flying over the clouds in Switzerland is always a treat – the Alps were just gorgeous this morning. Soon it was time to land in Geneva and my trip of SWISS came to an end.



I think that SWISS offers a very competitive product and you can’t really go wrong with them – I would rank the SWISS Business Class product ahead of Lufthansa but behind Austrian:

Austrian – no one beats the amazing DO & CO catering
SWISS – super reliable and essentially the same seats as on Austrian
Lufthansa – still better than Lufthansa and supposedly the Business Class retro-fit is finally done
All in all, it was a good trip – no delays and courteous crew. Given the choice (and availability of course) I would not hesitate to fly with SWISS again. It’s a real shame that you can’t redeem miles on SWISS First Class since I would really like the product on the A330.

LANDJ999

You mentioned United .. Take note. Falling on deaf ears.
Nice report

LukasVIE

Thanks ueutyi I expect to have the next part up by Wednesday

Thank you LANDJ999 - and you can always hope! The swill that United serves as "coffee" is just vile - can't drink it

LukasVIE

For a better reading experience, read this post on my blog

After three great days in Geneva, it was time to continue my journey to Vienna. I had booked a flight on Austrian using the remaining miles in my Miles & More account. While it wasn’t the greatest value for the miles, fares in Europe usually require a roundtrip purchase and I only needed a one-way ticket. In addition, a redemption ticket on Austrian still comes with one free bag and a seat assignment.

Geneva Airport

After the hotel shuttle dropped me off at the arrivals area, I entered the terminal and proceeded to the check-in area. Austrian check-in is handled by SWISS and there were no lines fortunately. I decided to check my bag since the flight was going to be operated by a Fokker 70, which does not have very large overhead bins.



Check-In

I suspect that since I purchased a Miles & More award ticket, the Austrian web check-in system did not let me change the frequent flyer information on file, which was of course my Lufthansa number, where I do not have any status anymore. I handed my passport to the check-in agent and asked her to add my Aegean number to the reservation.

I know that it’s a minor complaint but she proceeded to tag my bag without priority tag and sent it off before I even had the chance to speak up. After I told her that she should have added the tag, she said that she also wasn’t able to add my frequent flyer information and continued to tell me that Star Alliance Gold benefits would not apply to award reservations.

According to her, I wouldn’t receive fast track security nor priority boarding, but maybe they would make an exception at the lounge for me. I knew that all of this wasn’t correct and told her that last time I checked, Star Alliance Gold holders would receive all these benefits as long as they were traveling on a revenue reservation, which an award reservation most certainly is – contrasted to non-rev travel, where (rightfully) no frequent flyer benefits apply. She continued to say that the system wouldn’t allow her to add the number and I was not in the mood to argue with her so I just went off.


Security at Geneva Airport

Luckily, security wasn’t busy at all and I was through in about two minutes. I have flown quite a bit from Zurich and Geneva when I was working for SWISS back in 2012 and I have never experienced a rude security agent in Switzerland ever, and today was no different. They are always very courteous and professional, even if a passenger forgets to completely empty their pockets.

After security, I followed the signs to the SWISS lounges. I was looking forward to see the SWISS Senator lounge of Geneva. Before Swissair went bankrupt in 2001, Geneva was a sizeable hub in the airline’s network. Since then, SWISS has lost a significant market share to EasyJet, which has a rather large presence at Geneva.


On my way to lounge

SWISS Senator Lounge Geneva

The lounge dragon let me in without a fight, but as soon as I entered the lounge I was thoroughly underwhelmed. The place was packed to the brims and the atmosphere was not pleasant at all. A number of people were on their phones and the whole ambiance just was very noisy.


SWISS Senator Lounge at Geneva Airport

The SWISS website describes the Geneva Senator lounge as “offering a rich breakfast buffet” – clearly SWISS and I differ on what constitutes a rich buffet. The lounge offered some cold cuts, pastries and yoghurt. I even dare to say that the breakfast offering at some U.S. domestic lounges are better than the food spread offered at the Geneva Senator lounge.


Pastries at SWISS Senator Lounge Geneva


Cold Cuts at SWISS Senator Lounge


Cereals at SWISS Senator Lounge Geneva

I did get a decent coffee at the lounge.


Coffee Machine at SWISS Senator Lounge Geneva

I was planning to get some work done in the lounge since the internet connection in my hotel was painfully slow, but decided to rather explore the airport a little bit more instead. SWISS obviously does not want you to take the newspapers with you ...


Newspapers at SWISS Senator Lounge

My impressions of the main terminal area of Geneva were mixed. While most areas looked renovated, most restrooms looked like they haven’t been touched in more than 20 years.

One of my favorite gift when traveling from or via Switzerland are “Luxemburgerli”, which is a kind of macaroon sold by Sprüngli. If you haven't tried them yet, I would encourage you to get some the next time you are transiting through Zurich or Geneva.


Luxemburgerli sold by Lindt

I bought some and then decided to start the track to my gate which was D27 today. The sign in the central terminal area said that it would be an about 15-minute walk and indeed it was quite a long way to get there. I could already spot my aircraft for today's flight on the tarmac.


Austrian Fokker 70


Hallway to D Gates

I had the “privilege” of departing from one of Geneva’s satellite gate areas. The D area in particular was dreary and with the exception of the Austrian flight, all other gates were used by EasyJet. There were what felt like a million people in the tiny satellite building and the only good thing about this experience was that I was able to walk to my planes, affording me the possibility for some nice pictures.


D Gate Area Geneva Airport

After an about 10-minute wait, Business Class and Star Alliance Gold passengers were called to board and I joined the queue. I got some nice shots of the aircraft while walking to the plane, one of the advantages of having a remote position without jet bridge.


Today's aircraft - a Fokker 70

Genève Aéroport GVA – Vienna International Airport VIE
Austrian flight 572
Fokker 70/ OE-LFJ
10:15AM-11:50AM
October 1, 2015
Seat 4A

Today’s morning flight to Vienna was operate by a Fokker 70. As far as I know, Austrian and KLM are the only two airlines in Europe to still operate this somewhat older aircraft type. Just a couple of months ago, Austrian announced that its Fokker fleet was being replaced by Embraer 190 starting in 2016, so these Fokkers will be gone sooner than later.

Today's aircraft, OE-LFJ , has a respectable age of 20.7 years and was originally delivered to Sempati Indonesia in 1995. In 1998, it was transferred to Tyrolean Airways. Once the airline was purchased by Austrian, the aircraft was transferred to Austrian Arrows and finally made it to Austrian once the Arrows brand was discontinued in 2012.



Boarding

The business class cabin on today's flight was only two rows, meaning that 3A was already the first row of Economy. Austrian did a nice job refurbishing the cabin as it really looked well maintained and definitely not twenty years old.


Aircraft Cabin

The legroom on these Fokkers is also pretty nice, making for a comfortable ride. The most essential advice on these aircraft however, is to sit as far forward as you can, since the engines in the back are quite noisy. You can tell by the ashtrays in the armrest that these seats have some years on their back.


Ashtray in Armrest

The flight today went out pretty full, I only counted a handful of empty seats in the back. We pushed back on time and I was able to shoot a time-laps video again:

In-flight

Soon after we leveled off, the seat belt sign went off and the flight attendants got up to start prepare for service. Flying along the Alps is always a treat, and today was no different.


Panorama shot

The pilot made his usual announcement and flight time was expected to be around 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Given the short flight duration, I really wasn’t expecting much in terms of food. The flight attendants offered cold and hot drinks. In addition, passengers could choose between a savory or sweet snack. I went with a coffee and the sweet snack, which was a “Nussini”, an Austrian chocolate bar. The coffee Austrian serves is consistently of great quality – this is really something I appreciate.


Food on-board

After this quick snack service, I went back to the tail section of the plane to take some shots of the cabin.


Cabin Shot

The lady seated next to me must have been traveling to a work-related event she was organizing. A colleague of hers was up standing in the aisle for most of the flight, you can also see here in the picture above. I did not mind it since I was a little bit bored anyway and listened into their conversation. Apparently, the ladies were dealing with difficult staff at the hotel hosting a work event and were complaining about it. It really was quite entertaining.

Soon it was time to begin the descend into Vienna. The weather was amazing with blue sky and beautiful views. I tried to capture the final fifteen minutes of the flight in a time laps video again with a nice view of Vienna on our approach.


Arrival

I suspected that we would not get a gate position with a boarding bridge and this was confirmed when we were taxiing past the terminal building. Again, a great opportunity to get some shots.


Arrival at VIE

A bus was waiting for the passengers to drive us to the terminal and it really was a quick two-minute bus ride.


Bus ride

When I got to the baggage claim area, the baggage of the flight was already out and waiting. I grabbed my bag and went toward the train station, where I got lucky again. A train was just about to depart and I quickly purchased a ticket for the commuter train.


Baggage Claim

Conclusion

To summarize, the airport experience at Geneva was pretty underwhelming. The airport is in need of some updating and the SWISS Senator Lounge was overcrowded and had a very limited breakfast spread on offer.
The on-board experience with Austrian was very good, they delivered exactly what you would expect, with friendly service and an on-time arrival.

Bretteee

I believe that Easyjet now flies Geneva to Vienna.
About time as the OS fares were high.

As to LX long haul I find the Y product from the US mediocre but better to the US.

But not being able to lift the armrests on the A330 is annoying.

Frequent_Flyer1

Great trip report ^ Just one small correction from a chocolate lover The Luxemburgerli you mentioned are made by "Sprüngli", a high-end confiserie/pastry shop very well known in Switzerland and they are complete independent (since 1892) from "Lindt", which offer industrial mass production. It would be a sin to mix those two up from a Swiss perspective And well, you also do see the difference in prices

History of Sprüngli and Lindt & Sprüngli:
1892 Rudolf Sprüngli divided his company up between his two sons. Johann Rudolf gained the chocolate factory Lindt&Sprüngli while David Robert was made owner of the confectionery shop that today is Confiserie Sprüngli. Since then they have been two independent companies. The Lindt & Sprüngli chocolate factory becomes an industrial enterprise; Confiserie Sprüngli remains a family-run business focusing on the confectioners craft.

LukasVIE

Bretteee Easyjet could explain the drop in fares --- a roundtrip between Geneva and Vienna was "only" about 200 Euros when I checked it

LX longhaul in Y is still a lot better than most US airlines I think. The flight I took was definitely a nice ride for most Economy class passengers as it was only about 70% full so most of them had an empty seat right next to them

Ahhh! Of course, rookie mistake, corrected in the trip rport and thanks for pointing it out Frequent_Flyer1. And yes, a large box was 47 Fr. really price but at the same time worth it once in a while.

LukasVIE

A link to my blog for higher-resolution pictures

Introduction

After an amazing four days in Vienna it was time to commence my journey back to the United States. Getting award seats onAustrian is somewhat tricky. They do release seats prior to departure if the flight is pretty empty, but capacity on their Boeing 767-300 which is usually scheduled on the Chicago route is limited to 36 or even 26 seats in a sub-fleet of two aircraft.

I was very surprised to see that Austrian had scheduled a Boeing 777-200 for most of October. While I prefer the Business Class configuration on the 767, the 777 has 48 seats so award availability is usually much better – in my case, there were seven award seats available. I had to transfer some Starwood Preferred Points over to Aeroplan, and since that usually takes between two to three days, I was relieved to see that there was more than one seat available.

When the points finally appeared in my Aeroplan account, only four seats were left but as I only needed one, all was good.

Vienna Airport

Since I only had carry-on, I decided to save some money and took the commuter train to the airport. If you have a ticket for the city, the extra ride to the airport is only an additional EUR 2.20, so it definitely beats the City Airport Train, which charges EUR 11 and the bus, which is EUR 8.

The train service is pretty reliable in Vienna and I got to the airport a little bit after 8:15am, with plenty of time to check out the Austrian Senator Lounge and the Star Alliance Terminal or Check-In Area 3.



As I entered the terminal, I could immediately tell that it was a very busy Sunday morning. The lines at the Business Class Check-In were pretty long, I estimated a 20 minute wait. Vienna airport really did a great job with the security check-point setup, I never had to wait more than maybe two or three minutes and they have a dedicated fast track entrance.


Vienna Airport Check-In 3


Wait at Business Check-In

Before I was able to go through security, I was stopped by an Austrian contract employee who wanted to weight my carry-on. Austrian, just like Lufthansa and SWISS has recently introduced a new fare structure. The cheapest fare now no longer come with checked bags – not even for frequent flyers. While that is pretty bad already, the Lufthansa group also has a ridiculously low weight allowance for carry-ons, with 8 kg or 17 pounds. This weight limit is strictly enforced unfortunately.

When I put my carry-on on the scale, the display showed 14 kg, I knew I was in trouble. It was essential for me to not check bags as Chicago O’Hare has a fast track immigration lane available for travelers with carry-on only. I pleaded my case with the agent and since I showed him my boarding pass for Business Class, he let me go.

While I am fine with the new fares which come without checked luggage, I absolutely do not see the point of this weight restriction. Virtually all planes are able to handle more than that and they ought to return this ludicrous restriction, which technically also applies for Business Class passengers, who get two pieces of 8 kg each.

Anyway, I was happy that the agent did not force me to check my bag and went through security, which took a total of 2 minutes. After security, I took a set of escalators up to immigration. In the European Union, you have to pass through immigration when exiting to a Non-Schengen country. This is something the United States will introduce in the not too distant future as well and I am sure will create even more bottlenecks at airports.

I was lucky today as there was no line at immigration. It is always a good idea to use the EU – EEU channel in Vienna, as processing time there is about 5 seconds per passenger – I am not kidding. The Austrian and Sky Lounge (the lounge operated by the airport) are right after the passport control.


Sky Lounge


Austrian Lounges at Vienna

Austrian Senator Lounge – Vienna Airport

I entered the lounge and got ready to show by boarding pass to the agent. There was someone ahead of me so I used the time to take a picture of the entry door of the Senator lounge. Well, the lounge dragon – one of four at the desk – yelled at me and told me that pictures were not permitted in the lounge. She continued to say that they had to call the police (!?!?) yesterday because someone took pictures of the lounge – I did not really believe her but I put away my camera without arguing. While I was polite throughout our interaction, she definitely wasn’t. She was pretty rude and clearly did not think it was necessary to use words such as please or thanks. I nearly wanted to repeat her request to see my Aegean membership card with a “please” added, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. She really deserved the title lounge dragon.

After entering the Senator lounge which is on the right side of the lounge complex, I could see why she did not want me to take any pictures: it was packed to the brims. I barely got a seat at the bar.


Austrian Senator Lounge Vienna

The food was a little bit better compared to the offering at the SWISS Senator lounge at Geneva but nothing to rave about. After drinking my obligatory espresso, I decided to leave the lounge and explore the terminal instead. So far my lounge experience at Geneva and Vienna was pretty underwhelming – the size of the Senator lounges is definitely not adequate for the amount of people it needs to handle.


Espresso and some scrambled eggs

Right after taking another set of escalators, passengers have to pass through a duty-free shop before arriving at the gate area. As I did not have time for shopping during my short stay in Vienna, I bought some chocolate for friends at the store. I thought it was reasonably priced – not great but definitely not too pricey.


Duty free store

Austrian has a very peculiar system for its U.S. bound passengers. The immediate gate areas for these flights are cordoned off and only Business Class and Star Alliance Gold Card holders are allowed to enter. This is actually a very nice setup as you don’t have to fight with gate lice blocking the boarding lane.


G Gates Vienna


Gate G11

After about 15 minutes, boarding was called and it was time to board today’s flight to Chicago.


Our ride today

Vienna International Airport VIE – Chicago O’Hare ORD
Austrian Airlines Flight 65
B777-200 / OE-LPB
10:05AM-1:20PM
October 4, 2015
Seat 5A


Great Circle

I boarded the flight and soon found myself in seat 5A, a “throne” seat. Austrian’s Business Class is basically an updated version of SWISS’s configuration. On the 777-200, about 80% of all seats have direct aisle access, the configuration is alternating 1-2-1 and 2-2-2. Since I booked my ticket quite late – about three weeks before departure – all the single “throne” seats were already occupied. I had my eyes on the single seats in row one and row five – these are usually blocked right before check-in. My strategy worked and at about 46 hours prior to departure (Austrian allows check-in 2 days before departure) I was able to select seat 5A.


Seat 5A


Business Class Cabin

I settled in and the crew soon offered me a pre-departure beverage. I chose the ‘Austrian Cocktail’ which as far as I could tell was prosecco and some juice – most likely a mix of orange and grapefruit. It was quite tasty. The amenity kit was also waiting at my seat.


Pre-departure beverage and amenity kit

We were ready for push-back at around 10 am but had to wait another 20 minutes as the jet bridge did not want to move. After the problem was fixed, we were pushed back.

In the middle seats vis-à-vis, a nice gentleman ‘congratulated’ me on sitting up-front to which I replied that it’s all about collecting miles. As it turned out, the couple was originally booked on a Delta flight out of Amsterdam, which got cancelled due to fog and rebooked on Austrian. I told them that they were very lucky as Austrian’s Business Class is better than Delta in my books. I also saw that KLM or Delta had rebooked them in booking class Z (they had their boarding passes in one of the seat pockets) so I gave them the advice to claim those miles as well.

Austrian’s safety video is quite unique and definitely more interesting than the one played at SWISS or Lufthansa. It features this guy who always manages to (1) read the safety card upside down and (2) clips his tie when folding his tray table.


Austrian Safety Video

From my window I was able to se the Qatar Dreamliner and a China Airlines 747-400. I was also able to snap of picture of OE-LAY, an Austrian 767-300 which still had the LifeBall special livery. Every year, Austrian paints one aircraft in this special livery to celebrate the LifeBall, a big charity event to fight HIV/AIDS. The aircraft usually picks up VIPs at New York and brings them to Vienna for the event.


Tarmac view Vienna


Austrian 767 in special livery

While we were still on the ground, the ‘Flying Chef’ distributed the menu and took orders. I took some pictures of the menu.


Flying Chef


Menu Welcome


Menu - Main


Menu - Pre-Arrival


Menu - Champaign


Menu - Bar Drinks

I like the fact that Austrian puts the number of "Falstaff" points each wine got in its menu - so even if you have no clue about wines you can just pick the one with the best rating.


Menu - White wine


Menu - Red wine

At the same time, the purser introduced himself to all Business Class passengers – he was easily one of the best crew member’s I have ever experienced on Austrian – I knew that it was going to be an amazing flight. He genuinely seems to care and also had longer conversations with some passengers – it wasn’t a robotic – Hello Mr. X my name is Y and let me know if you need anything – conversation.

The lunch service started with some refreshment towels – they were pre-packaged so I imagine they must have either not loaded the proper hot towels or had some problem with heating them up, these pre-packed refreshment towels are definitely not standard procedure on Austrian.


Hot towel

Soon it was time for some nuts and bread – Austrian’s bread is the best in the sky in my opinion – it is fresh and crunchy, just as it should be.


Nuts and bread

Austrian does a cart service for its appetizer and I asked the crew to give me a little bit of everything – this is the best strategy on Austrian. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to snap a good picture of the cart but my plate had some smoked salmon, chicken tonnato, green asparagus, turkey and deep fried breaded mushrooms.


Appetizer course

After the appetizer course, Austrian offers a soup. Today, it was a beef soup with a ‘bacon dumpling’ – it was quite delicious and I particularly liked the soup pot with the Austrian sign.


Austrian soup cart


Soup course

For the main course, I went with the filet of char with creamy crayfish sauce, sautéed spinach and mashed potatoes. It was absolutely delicious.


Main course

The highlight of Austrian’s lunch service is the dessert course. Today’s flight features Viennese apple strudel, a Mozart tart – consisting of chocolate mousee and pistaccio crème brulee – and vanilla parfait. I am not the biggest fan of Apple strudel so I went with the other two options and some fruits.


Dessert course

It was – as always – heavenly! I absolutely love the Mozart tart – an item which has been on the menu for over two years now I think.

Another highlight of Austrian Business Class is its coffee menu – they have a total of ten different coffee’s – I always get at least one, even when I am on an overnight flight.


Coffee menu


Coffee menu - Welcome


Coffee Menu - Page 1


Coffee menu - Page 2

The best coffee on offer is, in my opinion, the Wiener Eiskaffee, which is an iced coffee with a double shot of espresso and vanilla ice cream with whipped cream. Yeah, it was as amazing as it sounded.


Wiener Eiskaffee

Austrian has excellent catering in its Business Class and beats any other transatlantic Business Class product, in my opinion. It is probably also better than most First Class catering – definitely beat the somewhat eccentric offering in Lufthansa First Class.

After lunch service it was time to walk around the cabin a little bit to digest the amazing lunch. Today’s flight was pretty much full – I did not see a single empty seat in Business Class and only a couple in Economy. Unfortunately, Austrian went with a 3-4-3 layout in their 777-200 aircraft, a trend which most airlines these days are following.


Economy cabin


Business cabin in-flight

In the galley between the front and rear Business Class cabin, the crew put out some drinks and snacks.


Snack bar

I also took a picture of the placards – thank you Do&Co for another amazing meal.


Placards

I watched Terminator Genesis and was positively surprised – I really liked Arnold Schwarzenegger in it and I thought they did a good job with the movie. While it was still somewhat predictable it was entertaining and not a complete waste of time. Austrian has also improved significantly in terms of their entertainment program. When they first introduced their new Business Class they had only a handful of movies available but on today’s flight the offering seemed quite substantial – including a number of recent blockbusters. I also started to write on my trip report and before I noticed we were already flying over Canada – time really flies when you are enjoying yourself.


In-flight map

I ordered a coffee to help me focus – by the way – even regular coffee is light years ahead of the swill most U.S. carriers serve. Soon it was time for the pre-arrival snack. Since I already had fish as main course, I went with the Austrian “Brettljause”. It had a little bit of everything and I really enjoyed it. The pork & red pepper spread (Liptauer) was particularly tasty together with the amazing bread.


Pre-arrival snack

It seems like I brought the bad weather with me.


Weather outside

We made a small loop directly over the airport before landing.


Flightradar

Chicago O’Hare

We touched down and taxied to the international terminal. I could see my ride from about a week ago – a SWISS A330-300.


International Terminal

O’Hare’s international terminal makes for some amazing line-ups of aircraft tails.


Aircraft tails at International Terminal

As I mentioned before, I was planning to use O’Hare’s 1-Stop Clearance Immigration facility. This is a fast-track like immigration facility for passengers without checked luggage. Since I am an Austrian national, I am not eligible for Global Entry so entering the U.S. on a student visa can mean an hour-long wait – I am not joking.


1-Stop Clearance at Chicago O'Hare

Today’s wait was five minutes – amazing .The immigration officer was not very pleasant – he did not say anything except right hand – left hand – look into the camera, but he had me processed in about one minute so I can’t really complain. Clearing 1-Stop Immigration means you are bypassing the customs and baggage area altogether – you are walking through this rather sterile hallway which brings you right into the arrivals area of Terminal 5.


Immigration Walkway


O'Hare Terminal 5 Arrivals

I called the Westin O’hare to let them know that I would be waiting and the shuttle was there in about 10 minutes. I got into my car and was on my way back to Purdue University.

Conclusion

Austrian consistently delivers a solid product. The seat is very good, the catering is excellent, and while the quality of the crew varies, the worst you will get is an indifferent crew, which is still not the end of the world. Today’s crew was amazing so this flight was probably one of the best I have had on Austrian. I made sure to send some positive feedback via a web form so I hope the crew will get some recognition.

Given the choice between all Lufthansa group carriers and all other things equal – I would go with Austrian any day of the week. Unfortunately, Austrian’s network is quite limit but they have recently announced a flight to Miami which will start in October and there are rumors about a potential flight to Los Angeles or San Francisco.